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Artist's Description

This little turreted two storey structure with a pyramidal roof was once attached to a boundary wall, enclosing the 16th century King’s Privy Garden at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Palace’s gardens were landscaped in 1850 at the behest of Prince Albert and the Privy Garden was removed when a new carriageway was created to avoid the nearby Canongate slums leaving this little building standing outside the walls of the Palace.

Popular legends says that Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-87), used to bathe in sweet white wine for her complexion in this Bath House. However, it is more probable that the building was used as a Summer Pavilion or Dovecote and the Royals would most likely have used it as a Summer House. An ornate dagger was found in the roof-space while the building was being repaired in 1789 and the building was restored in 1852.

Queen Mary’s Bath House and Privy Garden are an Historic Scotland Scheduled Monument.